The actual producers, of course, call it making magic, but they’re also making money.

You can bet that all the green flowing around “Shrek: The Musical” isn’t just makeup.

“Shrek” marks the theatrical debut of DreamWorks, which is finally following Disney into the market with its stage adaptation of the first of the four successful “Shrek” films.

The non-Equity tour of the musical comes to Proctors from Tuesday through Sunday.

Stephen Sposito was assistant director (under Jason Moore) for the show’s entire developmental period, as well as the year-plus Broadway run of almost 500 performances. Now he is the director for the tour, and says, “It’s been a huge, huge part of my life, this ‘Shrek’ musical journey. I feel so privileged and proud to have been able to see it from a reading through to now. It’s been exciting to see it change and grow and evolve over the years.”

Staging “Shrek,” which boasts a book and lyrics by playwright David Lindsay-Abaire and a score by Jeanine Tesori, is, to say the least, a monumental effort.
Few plays require the sheer amount of technical support of “Shrek,” ranging from costuming to rigging and lighting.

“It was absolutely one of the biggest shows that’s ever been on Broadway,” Sposito says. “I don’t think any of us had ever dealt with that level of technical detail. When it was on Broadway it was very big. The tour, of course, has been scaled down, because you can’t possibly do all of that on the road.”

Actor Lukas Poost, for example, who plays the title character, has to be specially fitted for each performance, using prosthetics that are shipped to each city ahead of the show. Makeup takes over 90 minutes and on two-show days Poost routinely spends the break in full costume rather than using up more time and money to re-suit.

“We wanted the ogres to look like ogres,” Sposito says. “So our Shrek looks pretty much like you expect Shrek to look. It’s the same kind of custom-made prosthetics you would you use in a movie, and he can only use it once. It’s an amazing look and that sort of sets the tone for what we do with the whole show.”

Sposito, like most Americans, was a big fan of the original film, and even after five years of close contact with the material, he remembers the thrill of seeing it in the cinema for the first time.

“I loved the movie,” he says. “I thought it had a tremendous amount of heart and it did something animation hadn’t really done until then. It was irreverent and had sort of an adult humor. It felt new. It didn’t have that perfect cleanliness of the Disney films. It had rough edges and felt like a modern fairy tale. I thought they did a good job of updating those fairy tale images for now.”

The musical’s creative team has tried to do the same, just for the stage, where the animation can come to life.

“As far as plot goes, it’s very close to the original film,” Sposito said. “In terms of style, the way the story is told, it’s very different. It’s a musical, so there’s singing and dancing and big production numbers. All of the fun moments in the movie are still there, plus more. It’s a feast for the eyes on stage.”

He said the scenic design was based on the idea of “a very lush children’s pop-up book.”

Despite all the stage magic, and the bright colors of the film, Sposito says the secret of “Shrek’s” success is very simple. It’s in the story itself.

“I think people identify with this outsider trying to find his way in the world. That’s basically what the story is. That’s what everyone does. Everyone is an outsider in their own way. Everyone is trying to find where they fit in the world.”